-Salah Dado’s criminal history included prior felony conviction

BAY CITY, Mich. - A Grand Blanc, Michigan resident was sentenced to twenty years in federal prison yesterday after having been found guilty on federal drug trafficking offenses, announced United States Attorney Barbara L. McQuade.

Salah Dado, 34, was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington in Bay City, Michigan.

In May of 2012, Salah Dado was found guilty by a jury of one count of conspiring to manufacture, possess with intent to distribute and to distribute 1,000 or more marijuana plants or 1,000 kilograms or more of marijuana. The jury also convicted Dado of one count of manufacturing and aiding and abetting others in the manufacture of 1,000 or more marijuana plants in 2009. The evidence presented at trial showed that thousands of marijuana plants were grown and processed in a rural area in Roscommon County with funding provided by Dado. The processed marijuana was distributed throughout the eastern half of the lower peninsula of Michigan by Dado and others. When the organization was discovered in the fall of 2009, over 1400 plants had yet to be harvested and processed.

Dado’s sentence was based on the nature of his offenses and his criminal background, which included a prior conviction for a felony drug offense. Eight other people who were charged with conspiring with Dado and related offenses chose to plead guilty. Those co-conspirators received sentences ranging between 16 months to 10 years in custody.

The case was investigated by STING, a multi-agency drug investigations team led by the Michigan State Police, and also the Saginaw office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement (DEA).